How to keep our church potlucks safe for food allergy sufferers

[Manya1972]

At a recent potluck at our church, a guest with an allergy to seafood had a severe reaction to pasta salad that had shrimp in it. What can we, as a church, do to make our potlucks safer for allergy sufferers and keep us safe from possible problems?

[tbabi20]

I know that most churches usually try to stay away from anything that people may have a allergy to or substitute that ingredient with something else. Also if they do contain things that could cause trouble they usually label the dish.

Maybe it's a good idea to encourage vegan and vegetarian foods...

And I suppose it would be a good idea to maybe announce to everyone to be careful what they partake of and ask before consuming if they have allergies.

[swampcritter]

People without a lot of allergy experience don't always know what foods to watch for.

You might consider preprinting a card with check off boxes for milk, wheat, tree nuts, peanuts, seafood, eggs, and maybe one or two other things. Also include a line for the name of the item so that the cards can be matched to the dish.

Obviously, you are depending on the integrity of the cook to get the ingredients right. Most people, for instance, know that pasta is made from wheat, however, fewer would know that soy sauce is as well.

Also, label each food with a way to find who prepared it in case there are more detailed questions.

Quite a scary thing! I hope the guy is okay.

[margypops]

Thats a good idea have them bring a note with the dish saying whats in it them anyone with allergies will be able to make a choice,of course they may still get a stomach upset if the meat or fish is tainted ...

[sweetpea03]

I would say that all potluckers have to have shown what is in their dish that they bring on paper, so anyone who has food allergies can see what they are getting on their plate... though realistically, it's the person who has the food allergies that needs to be super careful. They need to be questioning what's in the food and staying away from questionable food. Hope that won't ever happen again, as any allergic reaction can be scary. good luck with it all!

[TrudieC]

I would do a bit of education and insist that allergy alert cards be placed in front of the items to indicate what might be in the dish that could cause issues.  A lot of people don't even realize that milk products are in so many things and that worcestershire is made from fermented fish (unless you buy the vegan version).  Maybe a nutritionist could come in and talk.

[margypops]

ooohhh ... well I would make sure its kept on ice or in a cooler ...maybe have some requests  to guests on the kind of food they bring...have to be honest ..the person that got sick didnt know they were allergic to sea food ?So at the Potluck meetings inform the potluckers to use well cooked additives or veg ...salad...you probably wont escape every incident though ...good luck